Political Opportunities and Pro-Democracy Movements in Malaysia

• In Event: Bridging Region and Discipline: Social Movement Studies and Southeast Asia II

Abstract

The mixture model of democracy and authoritarian political system of Malaysia has long been said to hinder the social movements to expand their influence. However the wave of mass protests in Malaysia with the emergence of an electoral reform movement, the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) has attracted much political attention to the electoral politics in Malaysia, nationally and internationally. This study asserts that the area of social movements’ impact tends to be ignored in the process of political change in Malaysia. Therefore, this study assesses the relevance of the political opportunity framework for social movements in non-democratic contexts by using Malaysia as the case. The core dimensions of political opportunity are used to account for the mobilization of the movements and their outcomes. This study applies the four necessary conditions grounded in the political process model and tests them by explaining the successful outbreak of the 2007 electoral reform protest. Grounded in Doug McAdam’s political process model, this study assesses how the availability of political opportunities plays a role in triggering the development of pro-democracy social movements in a non-democracy like Malaysia. As expected by the political opportunity framework, state repression, access to political system, availability of allies and elite divisions influenced the mobilization and outcomes of the movements. These conditions are all necessary in creating the space for the growth of pro-democracy movements that further on transform as political resources.

Author

• Ying Hooi Khoo, University of Malaya